Leave Her Alone.

JOHN 12:7 - "Leave her alone"

Anyone who has ever parented two siblings has, at some time, said something like "leave her alone." Little brothers know how to get under the skin of their sister. Little sisters know how to egg on their brothers. Siblings rarely know when to stop needling one another so parents often have to step in.

Sometimes, adults have to step in when children are bullying other children. If you are a teacher or a coach or work with kids in another capacity, you have at some point said, "leave her alone."

Even grown ups can take a joke to far or miss the social cues warning them to ease up. Every so often our teasing might go a little too far and we need someone to say to us, "leave her alone."

John 12 tells the story of Mary anointing Jesus with her perfume. Her act of worship was not appreciated by some who were there. They considered it too extravagant and too showy. Their criticism of her worship style was cut short when Jesus said, "leave her alone."

These are good words for us to remember. One of my personal rules for church life is that "what works for me might not work for everyone else." I might not choose to pour perfume on Jesus feet, but someone else might. I might prefer a different style of music than someone else. I might wish the preacher used different illustrations. I might choose a different color carpet in the church.

Having different opinions is great. Diversity makes us better. But the moment I start criticizing others because their preferences are different than mine, I become like the Pharisees and disciples who criticized Mary. When I sit in judgment of others because they have a different perspective than I do, I need to hear the command of Jesus, "leave them alone."

Go. And Sin No More.

JOHN 8:11 - "go, and from now on sin no more."

Place yourself in the sandals of the woman caught in adultery. You have many excuses you could make.

• The Pharisees are just using me to trap Jesus. I was set up.
• Where is the guy who was sinning with me? Why isn't he in trouble?
• I know most of these men who are accusing me. None of them are perfect either.

Jesus didn't give her any space to make excuses. He made it clear that what she had been doing was sin.

AND HE FORGAVE HER!

We cannot receive God's forgiveness until we are willing to acknowledge our sins. And once we do confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us!

Jesus is really giving two commands to the woman here. He first says, "Go", which is to say get on with your life; don't stay stuck here; keep moving. Secondly He says, "sin no more" which is to say something needs to be different; you can't be who you were; growth is the result of change.

This is one of those commands that is worth writing on an index card and taping on your bathroom mirror. Or you could scratch it out on a piece of masking tape and stick it to the steering wheel. Get it in front of you in a place where it reminds you every today.

"Go. And sin no more"

GET ON WITH YOUR LIFE. DON'T STAY STUCK.
KEEP GROWING. KEEP CHANGING.

The More Quickly You Judge, The More Likely You'll Be Wrong

JOHN 7:24 - "Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly."

As the two teams warmed up, I watched the different players, sizing them up, trying to decide who the better players were and which team was the better team. In a few minutes, I would be officiating the game and it is often helpful to have an understanding of the different players' skill levels.

What I saw was one team with several large players who appeared confident and coordinated. Their warm-ups were crisp, they were well-organized, their uniforms were sharp. By all appearances, they were the better team. Their opponents were much smaller. Although their jerseys were the same colors, they sported a variety of shorts and socks. They were disorganized and didn't even appear to know or like each other.

I don't remember the final score, but it wasn't close. The small and disorganized team ran circles around the favorites. They dominated from beginning to end. I was wrong because I was deceived. I was deceived because I judged merely on appearance rather than waiting to observe the teams' skill level.

In John 7, Jesus told the crowd to stop judging based on appearances. They misunderstood Jesus because He didn't fit with their previous experience. They were unable to comprehend who He was because they were unwilling to consider they might have been wrong about something in the past.

Today would be a great day to reconsider your assumptions about people around you. I bet you will come into contact today (or this week) with a few people you may have judged wrongly. Reconsider why you feel the way you do about them. Choose to give them room to change (or change your opinion about them). Stop judging them by what you think you have seen and start getting to know them a little more intimately. You might be surprised!

Why is everyone angry at everyone else?

JOHN 6:43 - "Do not grumble among yourselves."

Have you noticed how angry everyone is? It's not just politics. People are angry about religion, about education, about the weather and even about sports. Did you know that one city sued the NFL because their team didn't get into the Super Bowl?

How did we get to this place where everyone is angry all the time?

I think we got here ONE GRUMBLE AT A TIME.

The dictionary defines grumble as, "to complain or protest about something in a bad-tempered but typically muted way." Grumbling is when we hold on to our disagreement with someone or something and allow it to simmer inside us.

Many years ago, I was cleaning out a church's youth room and discovered, in a cabinet, a cup that had once been a quarter full of coffee. That appeared to have been years ago. When I found the mug, it was full of mold and other suspicious looking growth. I quickly threw it away and washed my hands for about 10 minutes.

This is what grumbling does to our soul. When we hold on to our disagreements and complaints, they sour us and infect us and ultimately take over our life. We become bitter and unapproachable people.

Jesus told the Jewish people to stop grumbling. They were upset that He was teaching with authority they didn't think belonged to Him. Jesus wanted them to stop focusing on their anger and start focusing on His truth.

We often need to hear Jesus' command. We are daily faced with the temptation to grumble about our circumstances or the way we've been treated or our government or someone who disagrees with us or whatever else might not be exactly what we want.

We need to hear Jesus' command when we are tempted to grumble to and with others. When we are tempted to grumble about others. When we are tempted to hold on to our grumble rather than forgive and let go.

This is such a powerful truth. Don't let your grumble infect your life. Let go of your negative perspective and seek the see the best in every person and situation.

Do not grumble among yourselves.

Embrace The Extra In Your Life

We collect change in our house. It all goes into one container and we save it for special occasions. I'm always surprised by how much "extra" we have when we finally count it up.

After Jesus fed the 5000, everyone was surprised by how much extra they had when they finally counted it all up.

This story reminds us that Jesus always provides us with everything we need AND He always provides us with MORE than we need. We are surrounded by an ABUNDANCE of blessings and if we will only take the time to "gather up the leftover fragments."

Take some time today, look around and notice the extra God has provided for you. You'll probably have more food than you will need. Most of us have not just one car, but multiple cars (one car is more than most of the world). Open your closet and be reminded of how God has provided far more clothing than you need (don't forget the shoes!). The fact that you are reading this email on a computer, phone or tablet means you have an ABUNDANCE of blessing.

It is easy to live with a scarcity mindset. We think we barely have enough and we need to cling tightly to what we have so that we don't lose any. God has blessed us abundantly so that we will allow those blessings to flow over into the lives of everyone around us. Don't lose sight of this truth.

Look around. Make note of all the leftovers Jesus has provided. Choose to focus today on GRATITUDE and GENEROSITY!

Get Up! (no more excuses)

JOHN 5:8 - "Get up, take up your bed, and walk."

In 1998, I was a boy's varsity soccer coach. One of my players was only marginally talented, so he rarely started games but he was good enough to get into most games for a few minutes. He probably could have been better, but his work ethic was severely lacking. At least once or twice a week, he would begin complaining about an "injury" as soon as it was time for the team to work on their conditioning (which meant lots of running). He used the "injuries" he had suffered as excuses for his poor performance and lack of hard work.

I finally had to create a new team policy. Anyone who asked to miss all or part of a practice due to injury was not allowed to play in a game until I had written clearance from their doctor. It was a terrible rule, but it became necessary due to the excuses being made by a few players.

We make excuses when we don't want to assume control of our own decisions and actions.

In John 5, Jesus asked a partially-paralyzed man to stop making excuses and assume control of his own decisions and actions. Prior to performing the miracle, Jesus asked him, "Do you want to be healed?"

The man's response is telling. He said, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am going another steps down before me.” Notice what has happened to this man over time:

1) He has filled his mind with the many reasons why he cannot make it into the pool.
2) Because he has spent so much time making excuses to himself, he has decided to not even try.
3) Because he has decided to not even try, he is left making excuses to others for his lack of action.

We all do the same thing all the time. We fill our minds with excuses. We tell ourself stories about why we are not in control and why we don't have the opportunities we need and why everything and everyone is against us.

Eventually, we believe our own excuses and we decide to be passive, to not do what we know we should.

Finally, instead of taking action and being proactive, we make excuses to others, we blame circumstances and explain to those around us why life is so bad for us and why we cannot ever take the next step to move ourselves forward.

Jesus said, "GET UP!" (and He made it possible by healing the man.)

Has Jesus healed you? Has He made you new? Has He promised you an incredible future and an eternal inheritance? Has He asked you to live for Him?

GET UP!

Stop filling your mind with obstacles and start focusing on possibilities.
Stop choosing to be passive and start deciding to take action.
Stop passing blame and start practicing for the future.

Whatever you pour into your mind will impact your decisions.
Your decisions drive your actions.
Your actions demonstrate to everyone whether or not you trust Christ!

GET UP!

Learning to See Both Sides of Myself

If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. (1 John 1:8 NLT)

How silly we are when we claim or consider ourselves to be sinless or without fault. This is not something I like about myself, but it is still true; on a regular basis, I fail to represent God appropriately. That's a sin. Every time.

One of the things I love about the Bible is that it doesn't paint anyone in a righteous light (except Jesus). We see all the warts of Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, etc. This is not something we talk about a lot, but Jesus' disciples were also very conflicted. These men changed the world more than any other group in history, yet they were far from "consistent" characters.

• Jesus called Peter a "rock". Yet it was Peter who denied his knowledge of Jesus because he was afraid of a servant girl.
• We know Thomas as a doubter, but he was the one in John 11 who said, "Let's go too– and die with Jesus." No doubting there, for a moment he was the most ardent believer in Jesus.
• John is known as the disciple of love. He refers to himself as "the disciple whom Jesus loved" and his book, 1 John, has the most straightforward teaching about love in the church of any book in the Bible. Yet consider this story about John which was told by Polycarp and Ireneus:
  

  John, the disciple of the Lord, going to bathe at Ephesus, and perceiving Cerinthus within, rushed out of the bath-house without bathing, exclaiming, "Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within."

Perhaps that's not how we understand "love" these days!

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Truth is… We are more multi-dimensional than we perceive ourselves to be. If we think we are completely good and righteous, we don't understand the depth of our sin. However, if we are constantly beating ourselves up because of our sin, we don't fully understand what it means to have been given the righteousness of God.

Truth also is… Others are more multi-dimensional than we perceive them to be. If we see someone as a godly, upright man or woman who does no wrong; we need to remind ourselves of Peter and his fearful denial. On the other hand, if we see someone as nothing but evil and wickedness, it might be good to remember the boldness of Thomas.

None of us are always what we seem to be sometimes. Thus we must all learn to give ourselves and others grace. But also we must take heed of our sin, least we fall.